Question 1 – The survey says:
I am writing this post for all of you who took the little 4 question survey I made on Facebook. The average time it took was 1 minute to do them.
I titled it the Foundations of Faith because if we don’t know these basic things then we are no better off than any other floundering lost soul.
Telling lies is not acceptable behavior. We need to convey the truth. There is no room for guessing anymore.
I personally do not like to do surveys but this was easy and fun to make and I really feel in my heart that people need to get a grasp of what is happening in our congregations today.
So, for the first question about “What is Heaven” here are the results.
There was an overwhelming vote for the Throne of our Creator. It is currently the place where he meets with his angels to give them their orders and there is a lot of praise happening there.
There were also a couple of votes each for the City of Gold and the New Earth.
Then there was one person who could not decide and that person is actually the closest to being right.
You see, this is a loaded question. Very few people know what heaven is, and the word “HEAVEN” is actually used to describe all of these choices.
The word “HEAVEN” is a generic term that is used to describe 3 different things in scripture (sky, stars, and the spiritual realm) but people use it wrong to describe other things too.
To understand what the Creator is telling us we have to understand the context of it’s usage.
The Five Heavens
The 1st heaven is the sky. We see it used in the story of the Tower of Babel, and when the heavens gave no rain, and when the disciples gazed up into heaven as Jesus was lifted up into the clouds, etc.
This heaven is where the birds soar and the clouds gather. It is a physical place.
The 2nd heaven is the cosmos that we call outer space. The stars and planets are out there. It is a physical place that has a boundry. There is an end to this thing we call the cosmos. Jesus said there are many places in his father’s realm and he is going to prepare a place for us. That place is the New Earth and Heavens (new sky and stars).
The 3rd heaven described in scripture is the spiritual realm of Yahweh/Jehovah. In the context of this heaven we are referring to the spiritual realm that is only revealed to us through stories, dreams, and revelations of the prophets and apostles. Mankind was not created to exist in that spiritual realm.
The realm of our Creator has no boundaries or borders. Everything is in the realm of our Creator. Our physical planet earth and all physical things he created are in the realm of our Creator. When a person says they want to go to heaven well, they already are in heaven. So it really comes down to the gift of eternal life that we are looking forward to if we want to continue to exist in the realm of our Lord forever.
A 4th way is the Throne of our Creator. It is the favorite choice for a description of Heaven. Some people think this is where we go to be with Jesus when we die. Problem is, there is no indication or promise in scripture that any human being will ever exist at that location except for Jesus Christ himself (“no man has gone to the father except he which came from the father”).
In fact, he made it perfectly clear in John 13:33 that where he was going we cannot go. John 14:2 makes it clear that it won’t happen until his kingdom is established on earth and then we will be with him again.
Another 5th way the word “Heaven” is often used mistakenly is in reference to a spiritual golden city in the sky. This city is commonly confused with the New Jerusalem that is only described in the book of Revelation after it descends onto the New Earth.There is no indication or support in scripture that anyone has ever died and gone to live in a golden spirit city in the sky. I will break this down better later in this post.
A 6th way “HEAVEN” is used is to describe a place we call Paradise. That would be the New Earth that Jesus is preparing for us and it will be our dwelling place for eternity
In 2Cor 12:2-4 we have a reference by the Apostle Paul about a man that was caught up to the spiritual realm of Yahweh (third heaven) and then taken to a place called Paradise. A place he was not allowed to speak about. It is not the third heaven but another different place. I would suggest this is the place Jesus is getting ready for us, and he will return again to claim his kingdom so we can be with him there.
HEAVEN” is also mistakenly used in reference to Jesus’ replay to the thief who died with him, when he said to him that the day would come when they would be together in Paradise. I will go into more details about that later on.
In our speech we often use the word heaven to describe a happy place or a good feeling. There are technically nine layers of cloud formations around the earth and the top layer is often portrayed in cartoons as the place angels sit and play harps (Cloud 9). None of that is scriptural in any way.
So I guess there are more than 6 heavens after all.
The answer to “what is heaven?” is: It depends on what context you are using the word “Heaven”. You have to know what you are talking about and most people just don’t have a clue anymore.
Its too bad we can’t have translations of scripture that use the actual words like Sky, Cosmos, Realm of Yahweh, Throne of our Creator, and Paradise. It would sure help people to understand.
The Mysteries of Heaven Revealed
We have looked at the three heavens that are specifically used in scripture, the sky, the stars, and the realm of Yahweh/Jehovah. There is no disputing what these three heavens are but it would help a lot if our Bibles used the true meaning instead of the generic word “heaven”.
We also see three wrong uses of the word heaven used to describe the Throne room of Yahweh, the future Bride of Christ (The golden city of New Jerusalem), and the New Earth (Paradise). We have to get a complete understanding of what we are talking about for this to make sense and end the confusion. If we don’t stop the lies then how can we lead people to the full knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
Now its time to uncover the mysteries that false teachings have created.
Let’s start with heaven #5.
Alexander the Great began his conquest of the known world soon after he became king in 336bc. The ancient Greeks believed that the gods lived in a golden city in the stars and the souls of all “the chosen” would ascend to Mt. Olympus and the glorious city of the gods after they died. That belief was continued by the Romans who changed the names of the gods but not the belief. If you know anything about history you can understand how this concept was adopted by the early Roman Catholic Church as they tried to assimilate all religions into one universal faith. They changed the gods to saints.
There are as many as 28 different English translations of the Bible that quote Jesus in John 14:2 where he said that “in my father’s house there are many rooms”. Some translations say different things like dwelling places, abodes, mansions, etc. but the literal Greek is “house” and “rooms”. You can relate to this in your own home where different things happen in different rooms. If there was a golden spirit city in the sky where would it be? And how would we get there unless Jesus comes to get us and take us there like he promised? He hasn’t come back yet so that can’t happen yet. I think we can totally reject the golden spirit-city-in-the-sky theory as being a false teaching.
Let’s go back to heaven #4.
The Throne of our Creator is a specific location in the 3rd heaven where the angels gather for instruction and praise. These angels are not omnipresent like our Creator. They have a designated place to meet in the realm of Yahweh. In the opening chapter of Job we see that Satan visited there as the accuser of mankind, and in Revelation 12 we learn that after Christ died for us Satan and his hoard were expelled after a great battle.
If you read any description by the prophets and John and were paying any attention at all you noticed that there are never any humans in this place where the angels gather before the throne of Jehovah. Even when John goes there to receive the revelation there are no humans there except Jesus. John hears the sound of unsatisfied souls crying out for justice under the alter and has a vision of people who will die in the future, but no humans are existing with Jesus at the throne, and thousands of his follows and all the apostles except John himself are dead already. I’m sorry to have to tell you this but nobody who died is with Jesus at the throne today. This throne room location is never portrayed in scripture as a city with golden streets or as a dwelling place for humans.
Jesus told the Jews in John 8:22 that he was going to a place they could not go. He also told his disciples the same thing at the last supper in John 13:33 and 36 after Judas left to betray him.
To add to this confusion, the statement Jesus made to the thief who died with him has been re-written to imply that the thief ascended to the throne that very same day. But we all know that when Mary was clinging to Jesus three days later at the tomb he told her that he himself had not yet gone to the father, so where did the thief go? To sheol with the soul of Jesus just like the Apostle Peter said in 1 Pet 3:18-20 to prove to the angels captive there that the promise had been fulfilled.
The promise made to us is that this throne will someday exist on the New Earth and the throne of the Creator and his dwelling place will be with mankind forevermore according to Rev 21:3-4.
That brings us to heaven #6.
The word Paradise comes for an ancient Persian description of a walled garden.
Webster’s dictionary compares it to:
a. Eden
b. An intermediary place where the souls of the righteous wait for the Resurrection and Judgement Day.
c. Heaven
Wikipedia describes it as place of timeless harmony.
You can definitely see the confusion here but overall the sentiment is that it is place of peace and tranquility.
Our faith holds to the promise that there will someday be a place that will compare to the Garden of Eden where everything was perfect and not only will our Lord walk among us again like he did in the days of Adam and Eve, but we will live together in that same place forever. That is detailed for us in the final two chapters of the Book of Revelation. The bride of Christ is a beautiful New Jerusalem with streets of gold, walls of crystal and jewels. A new heaven and earth can only mean new stars, sky, and land. Our bodies will be perfect and never get sick or die. There will only be goodness and happiness forever.
There is a curious parallel between Ezekiel 47:12 and Revelation 22:2 about the leaves from the trees that are for healing. I think we will have many things to do and we will get injured but have leaves that will heal us. Sounds really cool.
In Conclusion
I think we would all be better off if we just called things what they really are. Let’s call the sky sky, the stars the stars, the realm the realm, the throne the throne, and Paradise Paradise.
I know that this explanation of what heaven is will not be approved by all of you. I hope it gives you reason to study scripture yourself so can be sure of what you believe and of what you are telling others.
There are basically three ways to study scripture:
1. Believe Satan (Gen 3:4-5) that says nobody dies but we all become like gods. Gen 1:27 is twisted to support this belief.
2. Accept that we do not become like our Creator but he became like us (Jesus). We look like him and he looks like us.
3.Take the manipulated translations of the Bible and accept them at face value. Things won’t add up and you will be totally confused when you get done.
Stay tuned for the answers to the Question 2. – What is Hell in the next posting.
Marlo Overgaauw